OPATIJA – This final day of competition at the 7th WUC Bridge offered two battles for the medals. If the gold was to be disputed between Poland 1 and Czech Republic 2, France 1 still had a very small hope to grab the bronze medal. The suspense was very high at the beginning of the day. While France 1 played the last of the competition, Slovenia (20-0), Poland 2 had to face the Czech leaders. After an intense match, the Czechs won the match by 14-6 giving more hope to France while increasing its lead on Poland 1 which won against Germany 1 on the close score of 11-9.
The suspense was even more intense in the second round since France 1 and Poland 2, direct opponents for the bronze with respectively 201.96 and 200.8 were to meet in what appeared to be a sudden death match. If everybody expected a close match, the French players manage to take the lead very early in the game and to conclude the match on a severe 17-3 offering them a 14 points lead on their opponent and guaranteeing them the bronze medal since they were to have a bye in the afternoon – equal to 12 points. Both Poland 1 and Czech Republic 2 won their matches easily against China 2 and Germany 1 and the Czechs could now count on a 3 points lead before the last round of the tournament.
The afternoon session had all eyes turned to the competition between the two leading teams to grab the gold medal. On one table, Czech Republic 2 facing China 1, on the other table, Poland 1 facing France 2. For the Czechs, the deal was easy, do not lose more than 3 points on Poland, for the Polish players it was a matter of taking all risks to bring the title home and defend it in two years’ time in Lodz. Obviously, the teams were focused on their own game with no way to know what was happening on the other tables but in the end the Czechs managed to keep a 1.5 point lead to win the gold 248.6 against 247.16 for their Polish opponents.
In the end of the day, the closing ceremony took place, a ceremony during which the medals were awarded in presence of Mr. Hisato Igarashi, FISU Assessor and Mr. Gianarigo Rona, World Bridge Federation President. The 7th World University Bridge Championship was then declared officially closed by Mr. Igarashi before he handed over the FISU Flag to Przemyslaw Jagielski representative of the next Organising Committee which will prepare the next edition in Lodz (POL) in 2016.
Results
Follow the live results here.
(Source: Julien Buhajezuk, WUC Dept.)
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